Environmental Health Perspectives articles from September 2004

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from September 2004

Breast milk: an optimal food.(Guest Editorial)
September 1, 2004... Human breast milk offers the optimal nutrition for all infants and provides immunological, developmental, psychological, economic, and practical advantages when compared to artificial feeding. For proper growth, development, and health, infants...

Prenatal lead exposure and schizophrenia: a plausible neurobiologic connection.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... In their article in the April issue of EHP, Opler et al. (2004) raise the intriguing possibility that prenatal exposure to the ubiquitous developmental neurotoxicant lead ([Pb.sup.2+]) may be associated with schizophrenia, an adult psychiatric...

Activities and Organophosphate exposures: need for the numbers.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... The article "Agricultural Task and Exposure to Organophosphate Pesticides among Farmworkers" (Coronado et al. 2004) seems to be founded on an erroneous premise and presents virtually no data to estimate levels of worker or child exposure....

Activities and organophosphate exposures: response.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... In their letter, Krieger and Zhang note that our article (Coronado et al. 2004) is "founded on an erroneous premise" and that it "presents virtually no data to estimate levels of worker or child exposure." Our analyses show that the children of...

Electromagnetic fields and free radicals.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... The article "Magnetic-Field--Induced DNA Strand Breaks in Brain Cells of the Rat" by Lai and Singh (2004) is interesting. The possibility that exposure to anthropogenic nonionizing radiation and/or electromagnetic fields (EMFs) might increase...

Electromagnetic fields: Lai's response.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... I agree with Stevens that free radicals and changes in oxidative state in cells could play an important mediating role in some biological effects of nonionizing electromagnetic fields (EMFs), such as DNA damage. Certainly, cellular iron...

Complexity of factors involved in human population growth.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... We would like to thank Bob Weinhold (2004) for his informative article documenting the issues facing humans in regard to infectious disease and the growing concern within the medical community that traditional thinking, approaches, and methods...

Past and future considerations for heavy-duty diesel engine emissions.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... In her Commentary in the June issue of EHP, "Diesel Exhaust: A Moving Target," Janet Arey (2004) makes a strong point for standardizing diesel exhaust reference material for future research due to the changes in diesel technology and resulting...

Heavy-duty engine emissions: response.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... In his letter, Schaeffer concludes that because of the ongoing changes in diesel technology, "establishing standardized reference materials [of diesel exhaust particles (DEPs)] will be particularly challenging." As amply illustrated by the work...

Monitoring for asbestos: U.S. EPA methods.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... I would like to correct a misimpression about the methods used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in monitoring for asbestos in the air following the collapse of the World Trade Center in "Health and Environmental Consequences of...

Evaluating the toxicity of chemical mixtures.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
September 1, 2004... Tinwell and Ashby (2004) provided a detailed evaluation of the joint action of a mixture of estrogenic chemicals using the immature rat uterotrophic assay. The researchers demonstrated that a mixture of estrogenic chemicals in which each...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2004... In "Cause-Specific Mortality and the Extended Effects of Particulate Pollution and Temperature Exposure" by Goodman et al. [Environ Health Perspect 112:179-184 (2004)], Figures 2-4 were incorrect; the corrected figures appear below. EHP regrets...

Electronics, lead, and landfills.(HAZARDOUS WASTE)
September 1, 2004... Ironically, some of our most advanced technologies, when discarded, may represent a rapidly expanding and sometimes unregulated exposure to a toxicant that plagued even the ancient Romans: lead. Almost all electronic devices contain lead, and...

Washington's water woes.(Lead)
September 1, 2004... For at least two years the concentration of lead in Washington, D.C., drinking water has dramatically exceeded the action level at which the Safe Drinking Water Act requires water systems to address the problem. By this summer, additional steps...

Scratching out data on animal antibiotic effects.(The Beat)
September 1, 2004... Farmers use antibiotics to help keep livestock healthy and make them grow faster. Because of concerns that this practice encourages microbial resistance to these drugs, the GAO studied research needs and federal agency efforts on the problem....

Counting hydrocarbs to curb U.S. oil hunger.(The Beat)
September 1, 2004... In analyzing U.S. fossil fuel consumption, a Cornell University team has determined that energy conservation, along with the development and implementation of energy-efficient technologies, could save consumers $438 billion per year by 2014;...

Obesity report cards.(The Beat)
September 1, 2004... In June 2004, as part of a state antiobesity program, the nonpartisan Arkansas Center for Health Improvement began mailing annual health reports to the parents of all 450,000 Arkansan public school students. Schools submit each child's weight...

Smoking clouds treatment benefits.(Asthma)
September 1, 2004... Although there are numerous ways children with asthma and allergies can reduce attacks and live a more normal life, researchers at the 2004 annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) in San Francisco said...

Tracking antibiotics in groundwater.(Agriculture)
September 1, 2004... Antibiotics are commonly used in food animal production to treat illness, promote growth, and ward off disease. These drugs and their metabolites appear in animal wastes and can eventually enter ground and surface waters following the common...

Environmental technology opportunities portal.(ehpnet)
September 1, 2004... In 2003, Congress mandated that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set up a centralized office for facilitating public-private partnerships established to commercialize cost-effective environment-related technologies. As part of...

Protein discovery sparks hope for malaria vaccine.(The Beat)
September 1, 2004... An international team of researchers reports finding a protein, PfEMP1, on the surface of red blood cells in young children infected with severe malaria, a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children in sub-Saharan Africa. This...

Renewed commitment to renewables.(The Beat)
September 1, 2004... At June's Renewables 2004 conference, a follow-up to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, representatives from 154 governments pledged anew to promote alternative energy sources, and the World Bank announced it will double loans...

Floods: double the devastation.(The Beat)
September 1, 2004... Today, 25,000 people worldwide are killed each year by flooding, and many more face homelessness, disease, and crop failure following such catastrophes. Blaming such factors as deforestation, climate change, and population growth, United...

Fish tales to ensure health.(beyond the BENCH)
September 1, 2004... Fishermen are known for telling tales of their catches that tend toward exaggeration. A new kind of fish tale, however, doesn't stretch the truth when making a point to the Hmong community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about the hazards of eating...

Regular aspirin use may decrease breast cancer risk.(Headliners NIEHS-Supported Research: Breast Cancer)
September 1, 2004... Terry MB, Gammon MD, Zhang FF, Tawfik H, Teitelbaum SL, Britton JA, Subbaramaiah K, Dannenberg AJ, Neugut AI. 2004. Association of frequency and duration of aspirin use and hormone receptor status with breast cancer risk. JAMA 291:2433-2440....

Nanotechnology: looking as we leap.(Environews: Focus)
September 1, 2004... Since 1989, when IBM researchers whimsically demonstrated a scientific breakthrough by constructing a 35-atom depiction of the company's logo, the ability to manipulate individual atoms has spawned a tidal wave of research and development at...

Botanical supplements: weeding out the health risks.(Environews: Spheres of Influence)
September 1, 2004... For the past decade, the U.S. medical establishment has been adjusting to the rising popularity of herbal remedies and other dietary supplements. The 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) created a new regulatory approach for...

New spin on an old fiber.(Environews: Innovations)
September 1, 2004... Every year, cotton growers in the United States produce 20 million bales--some 9.6 billion pounds--of cotton fiber, or about one-fifth of total global production. The great majority of this fiber is destined for use in cloth, yet more than a...

The monster in the closet: mothballs' link to non-Hodgkin lymphoma.(Environews: Science Selections)
September 1, 2004... Each year, according to the American Cancer Society, about 54,300 Americans are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a cancer that originates in the lymph tissue, and about 19,400 people die from it. Several lines of evidence point to a...

Arsenic and intellectual function: Bangladeshi children at risk.(Environews: Science Selections)
September 1, 2004... In Bangladesh, naturally occurring arsenic contaminates some 10 million tube wells that about 30-40 million people depend on for drinking water. Scientists have already established that adults with heavy exposure to arsenic can suffer adverse...

Aflatoxin exposure after weaning: solid food contaminant impairs growth.(Environews: Science Selections)
September 1, 2004... Given the heat, humidity, and poor storage conditions of many tropical developing nations, mold readily grows in harvested crops such as maize and groundnuts. Such foods are dietary staples in many of these countries, and their consumption can...

Dioxin revisited: developments since the 1997 IARC classification of dioxin as a human carcinogen.(Research: Commentary)
September 1, 2004... In 1997 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD; the most potent dioxin congener) as a group 1 carcinogen based on limited evidence in humans, sufficient evidence in...

The science and practice of carcinogen identification and evaluation.(Research: Commentary)
September 1, 2004... Several national and international health agencies have established programs with the aim of identifying agents and exposures that cause cancer in humans. Carcinogen identification is an activity grounded in the scientific evaluation of the...

Pesticide product use and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in women.(Research)
September 1, 2004... A population-based, incidence case-control study was conducted among women in upstate New York to determine whether pesticide exposure is associated with an increase in risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) among women. The study involved 376...

A Bayesian hierarchical approach for relating P[M.sub.2.5] exposure to cardiovascular mortality in North Carolina.(Research)
September 1, 2004... Considerable attention has been given to the relationship between levels of fine particulate matter (particulate matter [greater than or equal to] 2.5 [micro]m in aerodynamic diameter; P[M.sub.2.5]) in the atmosphere and health effects in human...

Serum dioxin concentrations and age at menarche.(Research)
September 1, 2004... 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), a widespread environmental contaminant, is associated with delays in pubertal development in animal studies. On 10 July 1976, as a result of a chemical explosion, residents of Seveso, Italy,...

Exhaled breath condensate as a suitable matrix to assess lung dose and effects in workers exposed to cobalt and tungsten.(Research)
September 1, 2004... The aim of the present study was to investigate whether exhaled breath condensate (EBC), a fluid formed by cooling exhaled air, can be used as a suitable matrix to assess target tissue dose and effects of inhaled cobalt and tungsten, using EBC...

Particulate matter exposure impairs systemic microvascular endothelium-dependent dilation.(Research)
September 1, 2004... Acute exposure to airborne pollutants, such as solid particulate matter (PM), increases the risk of cardiovascular dysfunction, but the mechanisms by which PM evokes systemic effects remain to be identified. The purpose of this study was to...

Effects of low sulfur fuel and a catalyzed particle trap on the composition and toxicity of diesel emissions.(Research)
September 1, 2004... In this study we compared a "baseline" condition of uncontrolled diesel engine exhaust (DEE) emissions generated with current (circa 2003) certification fuel to an emissions-reduction (ER) case with low sulfur fuel and a catalyzed particle...

Developmental dental aberrations after the dioxin accident in Seveso.(Research)
September 1, 2004... Children's developing teeth may be sensitive to environmental dioxins, and in animal studies developing teeth are one of the most sensitive targets of toxicity of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Twenty-five years after the dioxin...

Neurologic abnormalities in workers of a 1-bromopropane factory.(Environmental Medicine)
September 1, 2004... We reported recently that 1-bromopropane (1-BP; n-propylbromide, CAS Registry no. 106-94-5), an alternative to ozone-depleting solvents, is neurotoxic and exhibits reproductive toxicity in rats. The four most recent case reports suggested...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2004... In the manuscript published online, the numbers of workers listed in Table 1, especially in the footnotes, were incorrect; also, the statistical significance of values for the right and left fingers for 1999 workers and age-matched controls was...

Subcutaneous injection of mercury: "warding off evil".(Environmental Medicine: Case Report)
September 1, 2004... Deliberate injection of mercury, especially subcutaneous injection, is rare but is seen in psychiatric patients, individuals who attempt suicide, those who are accidentally injected, and boxers who wish to build muscle bulk. Metallic mercury...

Water arsenic exposure and children's intellectual function in Araihazar, Bangladesh.(Children's Health)
September 1, 2004... Exposure to arsenic has long been known to have neurologic consequences in adults, but to date there are no well-controlled studies in children. We report results of a cross-sectional investigation of intellectual function in 201 children 10...

Postweaning exposure to aflatoxin results in impaired child growth: a longitudinal study in Benin, West Africa.(Children's Health)
September 1, 2004... Aflatoxins are dietary contaminants that are hepatocarcinogenic and immunotoxic and cause growth retardation in animals, but there is little evidence concerning the latter two parameters in exposed human populations. Aflatoxin exposure of West...

Follow-up study of adolescents exposed to Di(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP) as neonates on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support.(Children's Health)
September 1, 2004... Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic tubing soft and flexible. Animal data show that adverse effects of DEHP exposure may include reduced fertility, reduced sperm production in males, and ovarian...

Worker education and training branch.(Announcements: NIEHS Extramural Update)
September 1, 2004... Editor's note: This is the third in a series of articles describing the four extramural program branches at the NIEHS. What does training really mean? Firefighters from Rock Hill, South Carolina, used the expertise gained in several NIEHS...

Understanding and promoting health literacy.(Announcements: Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
September 1, 2004... The participating institutes, centers, and offices of the NIH and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invite investigators to submit research grant applications on health literacy. The goal of this program announcement (PA) is...

Announcements: calendar.(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... September 24-25 September, Fri-Sat. Scientific Symposium on Children's Health As Impacted By Environmental Contaminants. Austin, Texas. Information: Sarah Jones, Children's Environmental Health Institute, P.O. Box 50342, Austin, Texas...

Unnatural Disasters: Case Studies of Human-Induced Environmental Catastrophes.
September 1, 2004... Unnatural Disasters: Case Studies of Human-Induced Environmental Catastrophes Angus M. Gunn Westport, CT:Greenwood Press, 2004. 143 pp. ISBN: 0-313-31999-5, $55 cloth. This book was written as a sequel to an earlier volume by the same...

Announcements: new books.
September 1, 2004... Biostatistics: A Bayesian Introduction George G. Woodworth Hoboken, NJ:John Wiley & Sons, 2004. 352 pp. ISBN: 0-471-46842-8, $89.95 Biostatistics and Epidemiology: A Primer for Health and Biomedical Professionals, 3rd ed. Sylvia...